Justia Lawyer Rating for Robert D. Kreisman

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An Illinois Appellate Court recently reversed the lower court’s order dismissing an Illinois personal injury case in Oelze v. Score Sports Venture LLC, d/b/a Score Tennis and Fitness Center, No. 1-09-1476. While the lower court granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment based on its opinion that there was no evidence to support plaintiff’s claims of willful and wanton misconduct on the part of the defendant, the Appellate Court found that there was a question of fact regarding whether the defendant had acted recklessly. And since there were material facts to consider regarding the defendant’s actions, the trial court should not have summarily dismissed the case.

The Illinois personal injury case involves a plaintiff that was injured while playing at an indoor tennis club where she was a member. She became injured when she was caught her foot in a rope exercise ladder while running for a play. At the time the exercise ladder was being stored behind a curtain at the end of the tennis court. The plaintiff sustained a broken elbow and torn rotator cuff.

The plaintiff originally filed an Illinois personal injury lawsuit alleging negligence by the owner-operator of the Illinois tennis club. However, that case was dismissed after the defendant produced an agreement signed by the plaintiff upon her application for membership which included a provision stating that the plaintiff released the defendant “from any and all liability for any damage or injury” that might occur while using the defendant’s equipment and facility.

The trial court found that under the agreement the plaintiff had voluntarily waived any liability for fault on behalf of the defendant. The dismissal of the original Illinois personal injury claim is not at issue here. However, it should serve as a warning to anyone signing an agreement or release that these documents often include language releasing a party from liability regarding future injury or harm. Even many Illinois nursing homes are including mandatory arbitration clauses to prevent patients from filing lawsuits as a result of Illinois nursing home abuse.

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The Illinois Supreme Court is in the process of reviewing an Illinois wrongful death case involving a construction worker who fell to his death from a scaffold. The case of Ready v. United/Goedecke Services, Inc., No. 108910 had already been reviewed by the Illinois Supreme Court and remanded to the Appellate Court. However, Ready returned to the Illinois Supreme Court for review after the Illinois Appellate Court disregarded the higher court’s mandate.

In Ready, the Illinois wrongful death claim was brought by the construction worker’s widow against the owner of the plant where decedent was working, the general contractor for the construction job, and a scaffolding subcontractor. Prior to the 2003 Cook County trial both the plant owner and the general contractor settled with the decedent’s widow regarding the Illinois construction site injury.

However, the scaffolding contractor elected to go to trial where a $14 million verdict was entered in favor of decedent’s estate. The jury did find that the plaintiff-decedent contributed to his own fall, valuing his contributory-negligence for the construction site injury at 35%. Therefore, since the plaintiff-decedent was 35% responsible, the $14 million verdict was reduced by 35%, or $4.2 million. The verdict was further reduced by the value of the settlements already secured by plaintiff so that in the end the verdict was reduced by almost $8 million.

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In 2002, a mother and her teenage daughter were living in a rented home. One night, the high school junior returned home at 10:30 pm and noticed a faint order when she walked into the residence, but she didn’t identify it as natural gas because she didn’t know what natural gas smelled like.

On the following morning, the mother woke up about 6:30 am and smelled what she thought was natural gas. Her daughter recognized the odor as the same she had detected the night before but the smell had grown much stronger. The mother called 911, but the gas explosion occurred immediately after that call was made. The mother and daughter were severely injured.

The plaintiffs sued the owner and general manager of the duplex where they lived as well as the plumbing company that had installed the gas piping. It was alleged by the plaintiffs that the interior gas piping had been installed negligently and caused the explosion.

After the lawsuit had been filed, the plaintiffs added gas utility, Northern Illinois Gas as a defendant. The plaintiff settled with the building owner and general manager as well as the plumbing company. They proceeded against Northern Illinois Gas who they alleged was negligent in that the company failed to inspect its work and warn the plaintiffs.

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A settlement was reached with the family of a 13 year-old quadriplegic boy whose injuries were sustained in a 2008 car crash in Skokie, Illinois. As a result, the boy is limited in his ability to communicate and is relying on a ventilator to breath. He is paralyzed from the neck down.

According to a lawsuit that was filed in 2009 against the driver of a sport utility vehicle that collided with a station wagon that was driven by the boy’s father, the boy was a passenger in the front seat when it was struck by the northbound SUV attempting to turn east onto Old Orchard Road from Skokie Boulevard. This crash took place in front of the Old Orchard Shopping Center, a usually congested traffic area.

During the discovery phase of the case, the parties disputed the speeds of the different vehicles, lanes in which they were travelling and the color of the traffic lights.

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A sixteen year-old high school student was injured in a head-on car crash suffering a broken right patella, fibula and tibia. Screws and rods were required to repair the right leg through the tibia. The student went through 2 years of medical treatment and physical therapy.

The driver of the defendant’s vehicle was employed by a real estate company when he crossed the center line colliding head-on with the high school student’s vehicle. The defendant admitted liability before the trial, but allowed the case to go the jury on damages. The jury awarded $1.28 million in damages to plaintiff based upon his medical bills, past and future, pain and suffering and loss of normal life.

It’s a widely known fact that teenagers are injured and killed at an alarmingly high rate on the nation’s highways and streets. Those numbers may suggest that teenagers are poor drivers, have slow reaction times or are using alcohol and/or drugs to obscure their senses and ability to drive safely. Those assumptions may be worth examining, but this sad case is representative of something else. An adult driver who became distracted by all of the devices we know are available today 24/7; radio, an old standard, now satellite radio, cell phones, Blackberries and street finders.

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Yesterday the Union League Club of Chicago honored Judge Abner Mikva with its Distinguished Public Service Award. Judge Mikva is currently the senior director of the University of Chicago Law School’s Mandel Legal Aid Clinic. Chicago personal injury attorney Robert Kreisman was in attendance as he had served as a member of the Union League Club committee which was responsible for nominating Judge Mikva for this prestigious award.

The Union League Club’s Distinguished Service Award was created in 1955 and is given to individuals who have made a substantial contribution to either civic or public service. The award is not given annually as it takes a truly outstanding individual to warrant this honor. Past Distinguished Public Service Awards have been given to retired Illinois Supreme Court Justice Mary Ann McMorrow, George N. Leighton, a former U.S. District Court judge for the Northern District of Illinois; and the late Judge Abraham Lincoln Marovitz, who served on the federal bench in Chicago.

Judge Mikva received his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School and was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1959. Following his Illinois bar admission, Judge Mikva began his legal career by clerking for the U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sherman Minton.

In the course of his career Judge Mikva has served on all branches of the federal government, working to promote civil rights and reduce segregation and prejudice in education, employment, and housing. He served on the legislative branch from the 1960’s through the 1970’s as a member of the House of Representatives for Chicago’s 10th District. He then served on the executive branch when he became legal counsel to former President Bill Clinton. In addition, he served 15 years on the judicial branch as a federal appellate court judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which included a stint as chief judge.

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The U.S. Department of Justice completed a deal with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca where the drug company agreed to pay $520 million to settle a federal investigation into questionable marketing practices for its anti-psychotic drug, Seroquel.

The government had accused AstraZeneca of violating anti-kickback laws through its practice of paying doctors to refer Seroquel to patients while it also brought in additional money from government health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid. The pharmaceutical company was also accused of promoting favorable research on Seroquel’s effects which misled doctors and patients alike, while at the same time failing to disclose studies that showed Seroquel increased the risk of diabetes.

Currently there are over 25,000 pharmaceutical litigation claims against AstraZeneca alleging that Seroquel caused increased incidences of diabetes and weight gain. AstraZeneca’s aggressive marketing and promoting of Seroquel helped increase the prescription of the anti-psychotic drug among children and the elderly, oftentimes for indications or uses not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

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The American Association of Justice (AAJ) is a national trial bar for plaintiff attorneys that fights to protect the rights of people who have been injured as the result of negligence or misconduct. Its members handle a wide range of cases, including personal injury, medical malpractice, and product liability. As part of its mission, the AAJ hosts national conferences where plaintiff lawyers can meet to discuss new trends in their legal practice areas and learn new skills to apply to their practice.

This past weekend, the AAJ Mega College held such a program in Scottsdale, AZ, and selected Chicago lawyer Robert Kreisman to be a faculty member and speaker at its event. Bob Kreisman’s presentation focused on how to strategically plan trial strategies used in opening statement. His presentation referenced the popular trial lawyer tools Rules of the Road: A Plaintiff Lawyer’s Guide to Proving Liability, Overcoming Jury Bias, Reptile: The 2009 Manual of the Plaintiff’s Revolution, and David Ball on Damages: A Plaintiff’s Attorney’s Guide to Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Cases. The presentation was well-received and highlighted some useful strategies for crafting a convincing case at trial.

And while the AAJ Mega College had informative seminars that resembled other AAJ conventions, it was in fact the first of its kind. Trial lawyers from across the U.S. were in attendance and ready to sharpen their trial skills, many in preparation for upcoming trials.

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In Illinois personal injury lawsuits, the job of the court is to oversee the case and make sure it moves efficiently through the court system. In most cases, this involves setting deadlines for discovery, establishing a firm trial date, and ruling on motions. However, in some cases the court will order one or both of the parties to perform a specific action.

In a recent Illinois personal injury lawsuit, the court ordered the plaintiff’s family to accept the defendant CTA’s offer to settle for $11 million. The defendant had previously offered the plaintiff’s family $10 million, which they had refused.

This Illinois personal injury case involved a 28 year-old factory worker who was a passenger in a car when it was struck by a Chicago bus. At the time of the accident the plaintiff had a one year-old son with his second child being born just one day after the Chicago bus accident. The severity of the injuries the Illinois resident sustained during the bus accident have left him with the mental capacity of a child.

The plaintiff required three months of hospitalization due to a traumatic brain injury which has left him permanently disabled. Not only is he no longer to work and provide for his young family, but he requires constant care and supervision at home.

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On Thursday, April 22, 2010, the Public Affairs Committee of The Union League Club of Chicago will be hosting a screening of The Response, a 30-minute film documenting the U.S. military tribunals in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Response takes the audience inside the military tribunals to provide an insider’s view of the courtroom drama surrounding the Guantanamo Bay hearings.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion. The film’s viewpoint will be represented by Sig Libowitz, the film’s writer and producer, and Peter Riegert, an actor in The Response and other films including Star, Animal House, Local Hero, and The Sopranos. Gary Isaac, a Chicago attorney with Mayer Brown who has personally been involved in Guantanamo litigation, will speak to some of the legal aspects of the military tribunals. Major General (Retired) Charles E. Tucker (USAF), the Executive Director of the International Human Rights Law Institute, will also provide his unique insight into the Guantanamo Bay tribunals.

Registration for the event starts at 4:00 p.m., with the screening beginning promptly at 4:30 p.m., followed by the panel discussion at 5:00 p.m. Tickets can be reserved by phone at (312) 435-5946. Payment may be made at the door by cash or check ($15) payable to the Union League Club of Chicago (65 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois). All cancellations are due by noon on Wednesday, April 21, 2010. Please be advised that the dress code for The Response screening is business casual.

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